On average, the recruitment process takes around 23 days, that's just under 5 weeks and that doesn't include notice periods and settling in/training. So if you are looking for strong new talent for your team, considering the average 4 week notice period - you'd need to get started now.

The majority of businesses under estimate getting length of time and steps it takes to get the right person in place so we've put together a few steps you can check that you're ready to get started:

1. Budget green light. If costs are signed off, then there's the job description to write. What are the key objectives of the role? What are the essential skills you are looking for? Spend time at this stage and you'll be a lot clearer who's going to be the best fit for this role.

2. Planning the recruitment timeline. Time to review CVs, set up and conduct interviews around diaries - you need to be organised or you'll lose the best talent to companies that have got their diaries and timelines sorted.

3. Advertise and Review. Whether you're advertising online or perhaps using your own HR / Internal Recruitment team you'll need to review the CVs you receive. With employers more pushed for time, research suggests you'll spend less than 10 seconds per C.V - not much time to take in who's going to be arriving to meet you for interviews!

4. Shortlist - you need to decide who you're interviewing and the style and format of the interview, plus there's the logistics of getting these booked in and followed up.

5. The chosen one - Once you've got your top candidate, it's all about making the final offer and negotiating to secure your talent. Then of course there's the notice period for the candidate.

6. Onboarding - The final part of the recruitment process tails off as inductions and training commence and your new team member becomes an asset for your business.

So there's is a lot to do to get your new recruit up and running! Cutting corners isn't your answer, but there are other options at hand. Have you considered temp cover to tide you over, or perhaps even a temp to perm assignment? Take a look at our temps section to which outlines some great benefits of temporary resourcing.

Obviously, we'd love a chance to help. One of the key benefits of using us is we will only ever send through the most relevant CVs, having throughly screened applicants and created a shortlist. We can also organise all the interviews and help you with the offer to the chosen canddate to ensure they say yes. All of a huge benefit to your recruitment timeline.

There are also lots of other reasons we can help - see our 'Why use us?' section here

So if you've got big plans for next year, and you need extra resouce to support them, let us help you get your recruitment started now!